Welcome to Happy Trails Kennels:
Home of four-time Iditarod Champion
Martin Buser, and family!

Even though he has limited facial hair, Martin was a Judge in a very serious worldwide competition ~ the World Beard and Moustache Championship. Could you identify a Dali moustache from a Wild West moustache? After a quick education on categories of moustaches, full beards and partial beards judging commenced on facial hair from all over the world. For more info go to: http://www.adn.com/life/story/806428.html

We are happy to get periodic updates from John Lang regarding the progress of the Wet Dog Crew. Crossing to Port Graham then on to Kodiak will be one of the most challenging sections of the course. The YouTube video is fun but watching the boats bobbing up and down almost makes me seasick.

5/24/09 2:00 AM

Today we worked on changing the oil on the 4 of the 5 PWC and refueled them and our spare cans that we are using. (the 5 brand new ones). Our ambassadors are now repacking all of their gear and our film crew was able to complete a major milestone for them with this weather delay and were able to cut and upload a video to You Tube and you can see that video here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpZgqUlBJbw

Our plan is to take off take off in the early AM and head out to Port Graham first and visit those folks and then we are going to head towards Kodiak depending on how the weather is around the Barren Islands. they are having Gale force winds tonight but its suppose to get better soon.

Keep watching and we will do our best to keep you informed as we go along.

If you are following our progress from any of the proposed checkpoints and you are interested in or know of someone interested in helping with our film crew as an assistant, we are willing to hire you for the short time that we are staying in your area. Feel free to contact Arron Kinser at arron@wetdograce.com or just come to the harbor when we arrive and tell Arron you want to help.

Thank you everyone for watching and rooting us on.

The Wet Dog Race Goodwill Ambassadors Team

If Martin didn't have other commitments elsewhere, he would be out there with the Wet Dog crew.

We had our first bus roll in yesterday at 10:00 am. The dogs are geared up for visitors and the puppies start screaming to get out of the pen as soon as they see a group of people arrive.

Just a reminder that we are open for business from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day. Feel free to join the tours at either 10:00 or 2:00 daily. Tours last about 1 and a half hours. Driving time from Anchorage is 90 minutes.

We will be closed on Saturday, June 27. Martin will be at the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla signing up for his 27th Iditarod. Martin has the most consecutive Iditarod finishes. Feel free to join the festivities at the Iditarod Headquarters on Knik Goose Bay Road that day!!!

Martin came home last night a day earlier than planned. Seems the Wet Dogs are not quite as reliable as our four legged friends.

After leaving Anchorage Tuesday afternoon, Martin zoomed out in to the open water of Cook Inlet like a kid in a candy jar. Heading to Fire Island which is just outside Anchorage his boat began to loose power. He and John headed back to Anchorage to do some trouble shooting, which lead to the acquisition of a new boat. By the time that was all done, the tide had gone out and so they trucked to Kenai to meet the rest of the group. Logistics and tide continued to delay their departure from Kenai. The plan was to go to Anchor Point, then Port Graham, then Kodiak and Martin was to fly home from Kodiak Thursday. He has two important commitments at the kennel on Friday. It became obvious in Kenai that the group would not make it to Kodiak by Thursday so he got a truck ride back to Anchorage. He loved the short time he was in the water and hopes the trek meets with success.

It will surely be a learning experience but dare to dream, right....

Dear Friends,
After near seven years of planning today we launch our Paving the way trip where we are going to run nearly the entire course out of 2000 miles on our Personal Water Crafts.
We are expecting to be leaving the public boat launch in Anchorage near Ship Creek at or around 2:00 PM.
We will be there around 12:00 to be getting ready. IF anyone is in the area around that time please come see our team of ambassadors off and wish them well

We are all very excited and looking forward to being the first ones ever to navigate these waters on a personal watercraft.

We thank everyone who has taken the time to follow our progress and those who have taken the time to fill out our Market Research survey.

We have our location transponders and the site is up and functioning.

You can track our progress by going to our web site at http://wetdograce.com and clicking on the "TRACK Ambassadors button at the top of the list to the left.

Thank you all again and we will check back in every chance we get to upload some videos to show what we have been seeing along the way.
take care and we will see you all soon.

Sincerely

John Lang
http://wetdograce.com

After the "Wet Dog," Martin may introduce moose races to Alaska. We could have the Alaska Derby right through the bike paths of Anchorage.

(photo taken at a promotional event for the tourism industry)

A practice session in Lake Lucille near Wasilla.

Martin is preparing for another great Alaskan adventure race. He leaves next week for a taste of the Alaska Wet Dog Race. He will be traveling from the Port of Anchorage to Kodiak by water! He has always loved to be on the water and it's the in between season, after Iditarod and before the tourist season.

For detail on his latest trek, go to
http://www.adn.com/outdoors/extreme/story/792129.html